The path to mastery

Over the past few weeks, we have been reading George Leonard’s book Mastery. The premise of the book is to describe how to master a specific skill. I’ll be honest- the only thing I would ever recommend this book for is a cure for insomnia!

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

I lost track of how many times I dropped the book because I fell asleep while I was reading it. The drivel I was reading sounded like a weak regurgitation of every single self-help book I have ever read. And I have read A LOT! (I need lots of help.) 

I couldn’t understand why it was required reading. Generally the books we are assigned have some redeeming factors… Not this one. 

Have you ever heard that song “Say what you want to say”?  7.5 minutes of that same phrase being repeated over and over and over…. That song was going through my mind the entire first ¾ of the book. 

Until this week. I finally got to the chapters that seemed to have some redeeming qualities. Insightful information without the meandering ramblings of the author. 

I was happy to finally have something to write my book report on- and ecstatic that I was almost done with the book! I couldn’t understand why this one was chosen. There are so many better books out there. As I looked over my notes and the highlighted sections in the book, I realized that I actually learned more than I thought I had. Some of that “drivel” actually tied it together in a nice little bow. Maybe, just maybe, this book was meant to be read multiple times- teaching the principles and concepts more each time. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge and dismiss the book. Maybe this is just the beginning of the path to mastery….